Nate woke up at a glorious 10 A.M., five days after the night of strange slow dancing. He was trying not to, but he couldn't stop going back to that moment. Afterwards, things had been strange. There was always tension, but Nate couldn't figure out where it had been coming from. Its origins were completely unknown and he tried not to let it eat him alive.
The sound of Luna cooing, when she realized that he had woken up, was accompanied by her immediately nudging her head against his chin. He chuckled and rubbed her chest that she had flopped onto him. Nate never understood how he got so lucky in the cat department. They had gotten her a few years back. While his parents tried to play if off as "random," he knew that they had seen him struggling. Plus, the cat wasn't really a family cat. She favored Nate more than anything. Luna was smart and caring—and Nate liked to believe that she knew he was blind because she would meow to let him know she was there. Maybe it was just a general cat thing, or maybe Luna was special. Nate felt as if it were the later.
His peaceful moment was interrupted when there was a knock at the door. He recognized that it was his dad's knock with the usual tune he mirrored. It was something he had done throughout Nate's childhood, and it comforted him every time.
"You can come in."
The sound of two pairs of footsteps shuffled into the room.
"Good morning princess," Jackson spoke as he sat on the corner of Nate's bed.
"Late night last night?" Alice asked as she followed.
"No, not even. I went to bed at 11."
"Woah, you obviously needed the sleep."
"I did, I haven't been sleeping well recently."
Nate didn't mean to let those words slip out past his lips. Yes, it was true, but his nights had consisted of different dreams than usual. His typical nightmares about his trauma—although he still had those too often—had been replaced with weird ones about himself and love. Sometimes Theodore was in them, and sometimes he wasn't. He couldn't even begin to describe them other than they were just weird, vivid, and stressful. Sometimes he woke up feeling so sick he thought he might puke.
"How come?" Jackson asked hesitantly.
Nate immediately knew that this was a mistake; his parents got so worried over him after everything that had happened a few years back.
"Honey, do you have insomnia again?" Alice questioned, using her kind and soft voice. "Because we can make another appointment with a sleep therapist and maybe switch from every other week at therapy to every we-"
"No, mom, seriously, I'm fine," Nate insisted. "I haven't been having insomnia or nightmares—just really vivid dreams. I feel like I'm still awake during the night."
He could physically feel the relief washing over them. While many wouldn't notice, he heard his mom breath the smallest stuttered sigh as she relaxed into the bed more. His dad did the same, playing with the end of one of Nate's blankets.
"I'm sorry Nate, dreams like that are always so crappy," Jackson spoke. "Have you tried lucid dreaming? That shit is WILD but I've only ever been able to do it once when I was sick."
Nate had heard this story multiple times despite the fact that Jackson never seemed to remember telling him.
"What did you do in the dream?" he asked—trying to suppress the amused grin on his face.
"Went to a grocery store," Jackson replied matter-of-factly. "I wanted to see what the cereal brands looked like."
Alice and Nate both chuckled and smiled at the man that acted as a husband and father. Although, he was a goofball more than anything.
YOU ARE READING
All Our Sensitivity
RomanceNate was born blind. That was a fact. Nate was also gay. That was a fact that came much later after his six-month relationship with his best friend, who simultaneously realized she was gay too. Another fact: Nate became enamored with the man at the...
